15 Windows Utilities You Can't Live Without

Despite the move (real or hyped) towards Web-based applications, there are still a few hundred million of us using Windows PCs running actual software. These 15 utilities are little gems of code that will help you get the most out of your Windows system.

Though these days all the talk is about how the future is cloud-based computingGoogle Chrome OS will only run Web appsthere is still a real need to run installed applications on Windows systems. In particular, I'm talking about utilities, those helper apps that do just one thing and do it well, whether it be playing or editing a media file or tweaking or peeking at a system function. We've rounded up our 15 newest reviews of our favorite utilities. Check them outmany will cost you no more than the time you'll spend downloading it.

The first group of our small software gems include functions that you might pay bigger bucks forI'm talking about watching video with the supremely versatile VLC media player, and editing sound with the open source Audacity, which offers multitrack sound recording and editing with a host of plug-in effects available.

The next group help you see what's going on in your PC system and let you take the temperature of your system and set it right. These include Process Explorer, Process Monitor, Autoruns, and Registry Workshop. All of these give you insights into what's going on with your Windows installation and insights into how to tweak and optimize performance.

If you want to make the most of your PC's hardware, check out the third group: ImgBurn lets you burn disc images with tons of options like making them bootable. DualBootPro lets you run multiple operating systems on one PC. And our Editors' Choice disk utility, Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2010 Suite lets IT pros and serious enthusiasts partition and backup hard drives or any connected external disks, as well as offering numerous other disk-manipulating functions.

A couple of the appsKeyText 2000 and ArsClipoffer time-saving productivity enhancements. The first lets you record macros, saving you typing the same text or command over and over. ArsClip, can (among other abilities) remember the last 15 entries you copied to the clipboarda real lifesaver if you've copied a large text block or password and absent-mindedly copied something else before pasting it.

The last group of third party utilities sniffs out networking and WiFi issues. WireShark is a free network packet sniffer that lets you troubleshoot networking issues. NetStumbler performs a similar task for WiFi networks. It's an indispensible tool for anyone with a WiFi router or WiFi capable laptopi.e., anyone who uses a computer these days. For the IT crowd, there's the professional-level NetSurveyor Professional, measures performance details of Wi-Fi networks. Finally in networking, but not for the faint-of-heart, is Iometer, which checks network performance by testing I/O operations.

But don't stop at these: Check out PCMag's own extensive library of software utilities ranging from AltTabIt, which shows a screenshot of your open apps, to ZipHunter, which lets you search files within ZIP archives without extracting them. Here you'll also find such diverse programs as a world clock, a remote webcam surveillance app, a disk optimization, and a connection speed testers. You're bound to find some utilities you can't live without in our library. For piles more (more than 200) great utilities, check out our 2009 Windows Utility Guide. And, of course, stay tuned for PCMag.com's 2010 Utility Guide, coming later this year. Got a favorite utility you want us to consider? Let us know in the comments to this story.

ArsClip 3.1.3Free
This utility is a free, powerful, customizable clipboard extender. It stores text strings, pictures, filenames for easy reuse, and basically does everything for cut-and-paste that Windows' own clipboard should do but doesn't.

Autoruns 9Free
Autoruns 9 reveals every single program and process that launches automatically on your computer. It's especially useful for detecting malware, since almost every malicious program needs some way to launch automatically. Do be careful disabling startup items; you could destabilize Windows.

DualBootPro 1.0.0$8.95 - $24.95 Direct
If you dual-boot Windows systems, you need this program now, or you'll need it if anything goes wrong with the Windows boot system. So get a copy now.

ImgBurn 2.5Free
ImgBurn is one of the most powerful disc-burning and disk-image creating programs around, and if you don't want to delve into all its gory details, you can use it's EZ-mode for care-free operation.

IometerFree
If you can wade through the 80+ paged User Guide you can end up an expert at using this sophisticated I/O performance meter.

KeyText 2000$29.95 direct
KeyText represents the best combination of compactness and power in a keyboard automation utility.

Meraki WiFi StumblerFree
A free, lightweight tool to troubleshoot wireless networking performance issues. It's Browser-based, with no software to install, works on both PCs and Macs. It also quickly discovers nearby access points.

NetSurveyor Professional$34.95 direct
NetSurveyor is a great tool for getting performance metrics for Wi-Fi networks. It's Affordable, easy to use, and informative for troubleshooting, all wrapped up in a nice interface.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager$49.95 direct
A powerful, mature product for managing hard disks flexibly and safely. An essential tool for any advanced user or IT manager.

Process Explorer 11Free
Have you ever called up Task Manager to kill a balky program, scope out what's sucking CPU cycles, or scan for a suspicious process? Try Process Explorer instead. It does everything Task Manager can do and more. Best of all, it's free.

Process Monitor 2.8Free
Wading through the mountains of log information recorded by Process Monitor requires higher-than-average technical skills. If you're up to the challenge, you can use it to find out details about process behavior that no other tool can come close to supplying.

RegistryWorkshop$29.95 Direct
This is an essential utility for anyone who works with the Windows Registry. It offers powerful, flexible, and safe registry editing, with all the features that Windows's own Regedit.exe should have but doesn't.

VLC media player 1.0.5Free
A versatile, free media player that supports more video file formats than you can shake a stick at, can record and stream audio and video.

Wireshark 1.2.6Free
Wireshark is a free tool that provides many of the same troubleshooting and analysis of more expensive packet sniffers.

Editor's Note (3/11/10): By popular demand, here are the links to the direct download pages of each of these utilities.

Michael Muchmore is PC Magazine’s lead analyst for software and Web applications. A native New Yorker, he has at various times headed up PC Magazine’s coverage of Web development, enterprise software, and display technologies. Michael cowrote one of the first overviews of Web Services (pretty much the progenitor of Web 2.0) for a general audience. Before that he worked on PC Magazine’s Solutions section, which in those days covered programming techniques as well as tips on using popular office software. Most recently he covered Web...
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